The nonprofit organization is relocating on Dec. 1.

Nov. 13, 2012

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Half Moon Arts student Katie Clark, 17, remarks on her painting Wednesday after setting the canvas against the wall at the 151 S. College Ave. studio . The painting features a large flower. / Rich Abrahamson/The Coloradoan

Being human can entail days spent trying to unlock the secrets of relationships, beat addictions and facing a whole slew of things that make life more complex — and sometimes downright awful.

At the disposal of those who face such challenges are a number of tools to cope, grow and overcome. For Rose Moon, that mechanism is creative release.

“I think art in itself is therapeutic,” she said. “It saves people.”

That’s why, in 2004, the local folk artist and certified addictions counselor founded HalfMoon Arts.

The nonprofit is not just a a music and arts studio but a second home for teens. All youths ages 13-21 are welcome to take part in the free program; but as its brochure says, HalfMoon focus is empowering and equipping at-risk youth with tools to succeed in their transition to adulthood.

“Kids hate sitting in a therapy office to talk about their problems,” said Moon, who described HalfMoon as a “backdoor approach” to work with “a wide variety” of children who may have been abused or neglected, who are in recovery or going through the court system — and even those who have seemingly normal lives.

HalfMoon Arts offers three sessions each year during which participants can work in the studio twice a week, take part in art shows, sell work and even, in time, earn a spot as an arts apprentice, studying under Moon and teaching others. There are also paid opportunities that further emphasize participant ownership, Moon said.

“I’ve learned a lot about being responsible,” said Rocky Mountain High School senior Katie Clark, a 17-year-old apprentice who discovered HalfMoon three years ago. She’s also learned that she has a second family in the students she paints, sings and dines with most weeks.

“We’re all like best friends over here,” she said.

Later into the afternoon of Nov. 7, Clark’s blonde curls bowed over an acoustic guitar as she sang Billy Joel’s “Piano Man.” The melody drew 13-year-old Elizabeth Yerkes from her painting and into the lap of one of her “best friends,” Zoe Metropoulos, 17.

Nearby, curled wood shavings fell to the floor as 17-year-old Rosalio Marquez chiseled the features of a face born from the wood of a soon-to-be totem pole.

Since moving into a basement space about two years ago below the Drunken Money and Great Western Bank on Oak Street Plaza, HalfMoon studio has flooded numerous times. Now it’s time for the organization to relocate — for the forth time since its birth.

On Dec. 1, HalfMoon Arts will move to 155 N. College Ave., No. 226, in a second-story unit above The Mac Shack. Once in the new home, Moon’s intentions are to continue the program as it has been and keep it “youth driven.”